Washu's Christmas Decorations
by illjwamh
Summary: Washu tires to get into the holiday spirit, and goes a little to far. Exploding Christmas lights and killer robots follow.


Disclaimer: Illjwamh does not, in any way, have the smallest amount of legal claim of ownership of the anime Tenchi Muyo! or any of its characters.

This story takes place in the TV universe.

Washu's Christmas Decorations-by Illjwamh

     It was a peaceful winter evening in the Masaki household. The whole clan was seated around the fireplace in the living room, telling stories and reminiscing about all their good (and bad) times together. Even Mihoshi and Kiyone had stopped by to spend the evening, since they had no work the next day, and didn't go out on patrol until afternoon. The only one absent was Washu. At the moment, everyone was laughing and enjoying themselves as Kiyone told one of her favorite stories.

     "You should have seen the look on her face!" Kiyone exclaimed while trying to keep herself from buckling over with laughter. "And then…" she paused to calm herself down again, "and then, I told her that someone who's been in the force as long as her should at least know how to make a decent cup of coffee! When she left, I nearly died laughing!" She buckled over again.

     "You just might do that right now," Yosho commented.

     "I'm sorry," Kiyone said as she composed herself. "It just that I'd been waiting my entire career to be able to speak like that to her. Apparently, it bothered her even more than I'd thought it would. That's why I love that story so much."

     "Kiyone," Mihoshi scolded her partner, "You're so mean to poor Mitsuki."

     "Well, all I can say is she deserved it, Mihoshi." Tenchi chose this lull in the conversation to change the subject.

     "Well I'm just glad you both could come," he said to the two detectives. "I haven't seen either of you have this much fun in a while. It's good for you."

     "Well, it is the holidays, Tenchi!" Mihoshi said and then took another swig of Washu's special holiday sake.

     "Thank goodness for that!" Kiyone said. "Our employers gave us an extra day off this week."

     "Don't expect that to last long," Noboyuki said. Yosho nodded in agreement.

     "Yes. Things may not be in full swing just yet, but very soon all the holiday shoppers will be bogging down every building in the city."

     "Well it's nice to know we've got something to look forward to," Kiyone said sarcastically. Tenchi opened his mouth to speak again, but before he could utter the words, the entire house shook with a tremendous explosion of some sort. When everything stopped moving, the whole group just stared at each other blankly.

     "What was that?" Ryoko asked. She was answered almost immediately when a little pink haired scientist burst forth from the door under the stairs. She came bounding out of the opening, running faster than one might think such a tiny person can run.

     "Run for your lives! It's out of control!"

     She was met with blank stares all around.

     "What's out of control, Miss Washu?" Aeka asked.

     Washu glared at her, but instead of a reprimand, all she said was, "See for yourselves if you want to, I'm out of here!" She ran past them all, and through the door into the backyard. They watched her go, then turned back to the lab when they heard a loud thumping sound.

     "Tenchi, what is that?" Sasami asked.

     "I'm not sure, Sasami." Immediately after, the room echoed with a booming voice.

     "HO HO HO!" After that, dual red laser beams shot out of the lab, across the room, and burned holes in the opposite wall. Everyone's eyes went wide. Tenchi gulped.

     "I think we should follow Washu's advice and get out of here!" he said. They all started to run, but stopped in horror when the thumping was replaced with a deafening crash. They turned around slowly, and when they saw what was there, they were shocked, to say the least. Standing in a gaping hole in the wall where the door to the lab used to be, was a ten-foot tall, robot Santa Claus. Mihoshi screamed.

     "Run!" Kiyone yelled. The whole group turned and ran, narrowly escaping another searing hot blast from the mechanical old elf's eyes. They burst out the door into the backyard, and ran through the snow toward Washu, who was sitting on a log near the edge of the forest. When the little scientist saw them, she smiled cheerfully.

     "I was hoping you guys would make it out okay," she said. "What convinced you? The laser blasts or the fire breath?"

     "That thing has FIRE BREATH!?" Tenchi exclaimed.

     "Washu, what IS that thing?" Ryoko demanded.

     "Well you see," Washu explained, "I was trying to make a nice robot Santa that we could use as a Christmas decoration. Unfortunately, I got my designs crossed with the war robot that I've been designing."

     "Great," Tenchi said, rolling his eyes. "This will be the best Christmas ever. We're all going to be slaughtered by jolly old Saint Nick."

     "Don't worry, Tenchi," Kiyone said. "We'll think of something."

     "Well we'd better do it quick!" Ryoko yelled. "Here it comes!" She pointed to the back door, and sure enough, Roboclaus had just burst through the door in the same fashion as he did the lab door.

     "Come on, Kiyone!" Mihoshi said. She drew her gun and ran toward the evil automaton.

     "Mihoshi, wait!" Kiyone shouted as she dashed off after her partner. The others watched them go.

     "They are going to need help," Yosho said.

     "I'll say," Washu agreed. "Especially if that thing decides to launch its missiles at them."

     "MISSILES!??" yelled everyone in unison.

     "Why does Santa need missiles? Tenchi asked. Washu just shrugged.

     "I told you. I got the designs crossed. He's half war robot." A clicking sound was heard. Tenchi looked over to see Roboclaus arming missiles that fired from his chest.

     "Kiyone, Mihoshi, look out!" Tenchi ran toward them and dived, pulling them out of the missiles path without a moment to spare.

     "TENCHI!" Ryoko and Aeka ran after him. The missiles went careening past, and exploded a dozen or so yards behind them, sending up a huge cloud of snow and dust.

     "Thanks, Tenchi," Kiyone gasped out. The three of them lay there on the ground, totally in shock, and let out a yell of pain when Ryoko and Aeka jumped on top of them

     "Are you okay, Tenchi?" Ryoko asked worriedly.

     "Yes, I'm fine, Ryoko," Tenchi said. Ryoko gave a sigh of relief, and then gave him a huge hug.

     "Lord Tenchi said he is fine, so you can get off of him now, you hussy," Aeka snapped. Ryoko was about to argue back, but the snow and dust settled, and Tenchi silenced her. He looked over at the house, and saw only the huge hole where the door had been. He then looked back to the rest of the group and to Washu.

     "Where did it go, Little Washu?" he asked. Washu already had her holotop out and was typing furiously. She looked up at him when he spoke to her.

     "I don't know, Tenchi," she told him. "I'm not picking him up anywhere. I guess that means he's far enough away that we don't have to worry about him."

     "You mean we're just going to forget about it, and leave it wandering around out there?" Kiyone asked in disbelief.

     "Well it's not hurting anybody out there," Washu said. "And besides, trying to destroy it would be a lot more trouble than it's worth."

     "But what if it comes back, Ms. Washu?" Sasami asked. She sounded worried.

     "Don't you worry," Washu said. "I'll set up a system so we'll know if he comes anywhere near this house. After all, I am the greatest scientific genius in the universe!" The two little Washu-bots appeared on her shoulders.

     "That's right! She is the greatest!"

     "Washu is an absolute genius!" 

     They started doing a little cheer routine, and Washu laughed her trademark laugh. Everyone face faulted.

     "Does this mean we can go back inside now?" Mihoshi asked, shivering. "I'm getting really cold."

     "Yes, I would say it is safe to return to the house," Yosho said. "Unless," he turned to Washu, "Ms. Washu has any other project she would like to share with us." Washu grinned at him.

     "Nope, that's it for right now!" She said. "And I'll tell you what. Since I'm the one who made us all come out here, we can warm up with some more of my special holiday sake.

     "All right!" Ryoko cheered. "Now there's something you can do well!" Washu chose to ignore the comment, and lead them all into the house. Before they arrived, Yosho turned to Tenchi.

     "Tenchi, while you are outside, why don't you go chop down our Christmas tree?" It was more of an order that a question. Tenchi got the hint, and went to get an axe, while everyone else went inside and sat by the fire, drinking hot chocolate and sake.

*          *            *

     A few days later, Kiyone and Mihoshi came over again to help the gang decorate their Christmas tree. 

     "We brought presents!" Mihoshi cheerfully announced.

     "And sake!" yelled Kiyone from behind her.

     "All right!" Ryoko cheered. She teleported over to Kiyone, and relieved her of her burden. She then Teleported over to the table, set down the goods, and proceeded to dive right in.

     "Just put the presents in the dining room for now, Mihoshi," Aeka said. "We can put them under the tree when we're finished." The GP complied.

     "So who's getting the decorations?" Noboyuki asked.

     "Here they are!" called Washu as she wheeled in two large cardboard boxes on motorized carts. "You guys can get started," she said. "I still have one more thing to get." With that, she skirted off back to her lab.

     "Oh, dear," Aeka said as she opened the boxes full of ornaments and the group started decorating. They'd put on the lights and tinsel earlier. "I hope it's nothing like last time."

     "Don't worry, Aeka," Tenchi said. "Washu's just really trying to get into the Christmas spirit."

     "Yes, but Tenchi," Aeka protested, "Washu does have a tendency to…get carried away."

     "That's the understatement of the year," Ryoko said as she put down her sake to join in the decorating.

     "Let's just wait and see what she's bringing," Kiyone said.

     "I agree," voiced Tenchi. "There's no need to believe that Washu is going to unleash another deadly holiday robot. Besides, she doesn't seem worried like the last time." Everyone nodded in agreement. They froze when they heard Washu's voice from behind them.

     "Here we go! Wait'll you see this, Tenchi!" She pulled a remote control from her pocket, and pressed a button. A whirring sound was heard. Washu paused a moment for effect.

     "Presenting…" she announced, "The giant, spinning dreidel!" To the astonishment of all present, a five-foot spinning dreidel rounded the corner and entered the room through the doorway. Tenchi just stared at it in bewilderment, unsure of what to say.

     "Uh, Washu…" he began hesitantly, "I think you've got the wrong holiday." Washu's smile slipped, and she blinked.

     "Are you serious?" she asked. Tenchi nodded, and so did everybody else. "Oh, nuts. All these Earth holidays are so confusing. I guess I'd better deactivate it then." She went to push the button on her remote, only to find that she was no longer holding it.

     "Wow, this is neat, Ms. Washu!" Mihoshi exclaimed as she examined the remote in her hand.

     "Wha-how did you get that?" Washu demanded.

     "How does it work?" Mihoshi asked. She began pushing buttons.

     "Wait!" Washu yelled. "Don't do that! You'll destabilize the gyroscopes!" But it was too late. The dreidel began spinning wildly out of control, and crashing into furniture.

     "Look out!" Noboyuki yelled as he leaped to one side to avoid the careening toy. The dreidel spun past him, and continued head-on toward the tree. The resulting collision resulted in a tree trunk broken in two, and a busted giant dreidel. There was a prolonged moment of silence, in which the whole group simply stared openmouthed at the disaster area before them. It was Tenchi who finally spoke.

     "I guess I'd better go out and get another tree," he said.

     "Don't worry about it, Tenchi," Washu said. "It's my fault the first one snapped. I'll bring up a special tree that I've been engineering in my lab, okay?" Tenchi looked skeptical at best.

     "Are you sure that's a good idea, Little Washu?" he asked. The little scientist merely grinned.

     "Don't you trust me, Tenchi?" was all she said. She trotted back to her lab, and everyone face faulted again.

     "I suppose we should clean up this mess before we bother setting up another one," Yosho said. "Mihoshi, Kiyone, you are welcome to spend the night if you wish."

     "Oh, thank you so much, grandfather!" Mihoshi cheered. 

     "Yes, thank you," Kiyone said.

     "Well let's get to work on this room so we can decorate Washu's tree when she brings it in," Tenchi said. The gang set to work, and by the time Washu came back half an hour later, the room was for the most part clean again.

     "Voila!" said Washu triumphantly as she brought in a normal looking Christmas tree on a floating platform. "Behold the most perfect Christmas tree ever, courtesy of the greatest scientific genius in the universe." The Washu-bots appeared again.

     "It is the best tree ever!"

     "Washu is a genius!"

     "It looks great, Little Washu," Tenchi said. It really did, too. It was proportioned so perfectly that even most artificial trees wouldn't measure up.

     "I told you it would," replied Washu proudly. "Now let's put it up." So they set to work, and then when it was up, they strung the lights on it.

     "That looks beautiful," Kiyone said when they were finished. 

     "It really does," Aeka agreed. "Are we going to start putting the decorations on it now? It's getting awfully late."

     "Yes, it is," Noboyuki said. "It's a good thing we get to sleep late tomorrow."

     "Except you, Tenchi," Yosho interjected. "I want you up and ready to practice as usual." Tenchi hung his head. 

     "Yes, Grandpa." His attention was diverted a moment later toward a beeping sound coming from the base of the tree.

     "Oh, no!" Washu yelled, her eyes wide. "It can't! Not now! It's to soon!" But, to Washu's horror, as well as everyone else's, the bottom of the tree trunk ignited. Washu turned to Mihoshi angrily.

     "What did you do?" she demanded.

     "I didn't do anything!" Mihoshi blubbered. A loud roar was heard, and the tree took off like a rocket, blasted through the ceiling, and shot up into the night sky, never to be seen again. Needless to say, it left a stunned group of people behind.

     "Washu, what just happened?" Ryoko asked. The poor scientist still couldn't believe what had happened.

     "I programmed it to blast off when we were done with it so we wouldn't have to worry about how to get rid of it. I figured it would be a real timesaver." Then she turned an angry look on Mihoshi. "SOMEhow, the timing sequence must've been tampered with."

     "I didn't do anything!" Mihoshi wailed again.

     "But how?" Kiyone asked while trying to calm her partner down. "I though that tree was genetically engineered."  
  


     "It was," Washu said. "But I put a few cybernetic implants into it."

     "Well that's that," Tenchi affirmed. "I guess I'll have to chop down another one after all."

     "Not tonight, Tenchi," Yosho said. "Wait until tomorrow. We can decorate it then." So they all ate dinner, and went to bed. When they woke up the next day, they would put up their Christmas tree for the third time.

*          *            *

     "There," said Tenchi as he fastened the final bolt in the tree stand. Yosho and Noboyuki were not present for this tree, so it was just Tenchi and the girls.

     "I made cookies!" Sasami announced as she came in with a huge plate full of the most delicious looking cookies imaginable.

     "Thanks, Sasami!" said Mihoshi as she took one and ate it.

     "Let's hope this tree goes smoothly," Aeka said.

     "I'm with you on that one, princess," Ryoko said as she took a cookie.

     "Aeka and Ryoko agree? It must be this holiday spirit I keep hearing about," joked Kiyone. "That, or Washu's holiday sake."

     "I've got the lights!" Washu declared as she walked into the room with a big box. "Since we lost the last set, I brought a few extra. Wait'll you see these babies. They blink, change color, even make music if you want."

     "That sounds great, Little Washu," Tenchi said. He was making sure to not say anything about her last few holiday mishaps.

     "Well, let's put them on already," Ryoko decreed. She picked up a string and started wrapping it around the tree. Aeka followed suit.

     "Isn't this nice?" Kiyone asked while she sipped some tea and watched the others string lights. "No killer Santa Claus, no giant spinning dreidels or rocket ship Christmas trees, just a normal holiday gathering."

     "I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear that, Kiyone," remarked Washu snidely.

     "Okay, the lights are up!" said Tenchi quickly, changing the subject so as to avoid a scene.

     "Great!" cheered Washu proudly. "Now let's plug 'em in." She picked up the plug and walked over to the outlet behind the tree. "Wait'll you guys see this!" She plugged them in, and all at once the lights blared to life, shining colors across the room and casting a motif on the wall that were so beautiful, even Ryoko was left speechless. Then, they started changing. The colors swirled together in little patterns, and mixed to make new colors. It was one of the most incredible things any of them had ever seen.

     "Wow, that's beautiful, Little Washu," remarked an awestruck Tenchi. Washu beamed with pride.

     "Didn't I tell you? Now wait until you hear the music!" She summoned her holotop and pressed a button, but nothing happened. Washu scratched the back of her head. 

     "Hmm, now what's wrong with this thing?" she wondered aloud. All of a sudden a loud "POP" sound made everybody jump.

     "What was that?" Aeka asked. Her question was answered by three more pops. Washu's eyes went wide.

     "Oh no!" she screamed. "NO!" But it was too late. The lights began exploding one by one, and it wasn't long before the tree was in flames. Naturally, this threw most everyone present into a panic. Aeka ran for a fire extinguisher, while Sasami hid behind Tenchi and Mihoshi cried.

     "What's happening, Washu!?" Tenchi yelled over the noise of the lights, which were now exploding so fast that they sounded like an automatic weapon.

     "These weren't Christmas lights!" Washu yelled back, almost in a panic herself. "These were the firecracker strings I made for New Year's!" She frantically tried to deactivate them from her holotop, but to no avail.

     "Washu," Kiyone shouted, "I'm almost afraid to ask, but was there a 'grand finale?'" Washu nodded gravely, and Kiyone looked as if she were about to be sick. Aeka, who had returned in time to hear the question and see the response, jumped in front of them.

     "Stand back!" she yelled at them. She focused her power, and a force field developed around the Christmas tree. Not a moment too soon, either. The last light popped, and then the entire flaming mess blew up in a gigantic explosion. It was all Aeka could do to contain it. Afterwards, she was completely exhausted. She fell over, and Tenchi rushed to catch her.

     Aeka opened her eyes slowly to find Tenchi looking back at her with a worried expression on her face.

     "Did it work, Tenchi?" she asked weakly. He nodded.

     "Yes, Aeka, it worked. Thank you." He smiled at her, which made her smile back. It was a moment destined to be short lived however, as Ryoko teleported in next to them a second later.

     "All right, that's enough of that!" she said. "I think you ought to lie down, princess." She took Aeka from Tenchi, and teleported her over to the couch, where she put the princess back down.

     "Well that was certainly exciting," Kiyone remarked as she tried to catch her breath.

     "There goes our Christmas tree," said Sasami sadly as she looked at the smoldering pile of ashes that had been their third tree. Tenchi looked around at the collection of sad faces and sighed.

     "I'll go chop down another one," he said.

     "And we'll clean up in here," Kiyone said. "Let's hope this is the last time."

     So the girls got to work on the living room, _again_, and Tenchi went outside to chop down a tree _again_. He opened the door and shivered. It was already getting dark outside, and the temperature was dropping rapidly. He picked up the axe off the porch where he had left it, and ran through the snow toward the patch of trees that had been shrinking during the past few days.

     He stopped when he found a good one, and started chopping. From inside, he could hear the laughter of the girls as they cleaned up the mess, and he could also hear Ryoko and Aeka arguing. The only sounds he heard outside were the blowing of a slight breeze, the chopping of his axe, and his own breathing.

     _"Chop…chop…chop…crunch…chop…chop…crunch…chop…crunch…"_

     Tenchi stopped chopping. There was another sound out there, it sounded like someone trudging through the snow. Tenchi held his breath and listened closer.

     _"Crunch…crunch…crunch…clank…crunch…clank…crunch…squeak…clank…crunch"_

     Tenchi arched an eyebrow. He couldn't make any sense of what he was hearing. Then, all of a sudden, it stopped completely. A few seconds later, he heard something much louder that sent chills down his spine.

     "HO HO HO!" Tenchi gulped and looked up, finding himself standing before the ten-foot Roboclaus. He let out a whimper, and then shrieked as Roboclaus spewed out a mess of fire, engulfing the tree he'd just been chopping in flames.

     "WASHU!" Tenchi screamed and ran back into the house. It would be another hour before he dared to go back outside and chop down yet _another_ tree.

*          *            *

     "Finally!" Tenchi exclaimed, flopping down in a chair. They had just finished decorating the tree, this time without a hitch. Nevertheless, it was still rather late, and they were all really tired. All of them that is, except of course for Washu.

     "Not quite yet, Tenchi!" she declared. "There's one last thing to be done!"

     "Please, no more!" Ryoko groaned. "We've got everything perfect! Let's just leave it alone!"

     "Nonsense!" Washu said. "Besides, absolutely nothing can go wrong this time! All I'm going to do is put a little snow on the tree!"

     "Snow?" Mihoshi asked.

     "Yes, snow. I've developed a special snow-making machine that produces unmeltable snow! It'll last all season! Even indoors!"

     "Well that sounds nice," Sasami commented.

     "Now wait jus a second," Kiyone interjected. "That's what we said about her last two ideas, and look what happened with them!"

     "But what could possibly happen with a snow machine?" Sasami asked. "Besides, I'd like snow that can't melt!" Kiyone sat in a chair, defeated.

     "Fine, do what you want."

     "Yay!" cheered Mihoshi and Sasami together.

     "Great!" said Washu. "I'll go get the machine." She skirted off to her lab.

     "This had better work," Aeka said. "If we have to decorate the tree again, it won't be fun anymore."

     "Well, I left the axe out on the porch again," said Tenchi sarcastically. "But I really don't want to go back outside again tonight."

     "You won't have to, Tenchi!" shouted Washu as she reentered the room, pulling behind her a strange looking machine. It looked like a big metal box with buttons and knobs on it, and a funnel-shaped spout on one end.

     "Is that your snow machine, Ms. Washu?" inquired Sasami.

     "Indeed it is, little princess!" replied Washu. "Now everybody stand back! I'm setting it on 'light flurry,' but it wont hit the tree if you're all in the way!" They took her advice and stepped aside, more out of fear of another screw-up than anything else.

     "Here we go!" shouted the petite scientist. She pressed a button, and tiny little flurries of snow blew out of the machine and landed delicately on the tree. It was somewhat impressive.

     "Hey, that's neat!" giggled Sasami. She jumped into the breeze of snowflakes and tried to catch some on her tongue.

     "Sasami," Aeka said, "Ms. Washu asked you to stand away from there."

     "Oh, let her have some fun, Aeka," Washu said. "We've got plenty on the tree now." The snow continued to shoot out, and Tenchi and the girls watched happily. Mihoshi seemed especially interested.

     "How does this work, Ms. Washu?" she asked as she inspected the machine.

     "No! Don't! Get away from there!" Washu rushed toward the blonde GP, but once again it was too late. The machine started shaking and making funny noises.

     "Sasami, look out!" Aeka cried. She jumped and pushed her sister out of the path of the snow, and not a moment too soon. A torrent of frozen water crystals flew out of the machine faster than they would a snow blower. In less than ten seconds, it was wildly blowing snow all over the room.

     "Washu, shut it off!" Tenchi yelled.

     "I'm trying, Tenchi!" she yelled back. "I can't get near it to hit the switch!"

     "I'll blast it!" Ryoko shouted. She powered up an energy blast in her hand, but before she could fire it, a solid stream of snow hit her in the gut, knocking her back against the wall.

     "Mihoshi, you dolt!" Kiyone screamed. "Look what you did now!"

     "I'm sorry!" Mihoshi wailed. Both were attempting to shield themselves from the constant onslaught of snow.

     "I'm home! Ehhhh!" Noboyuki was caught completely off-guard as he entered the house, and took a barrage of snow to the face.

     "Everyone keep above it!" Washu hollered over the commotion. "Don't let it bury you or you'll suffocate!" The scene went on for several more minutes, until the snow stopped coming. Evidently, the machine had buried itself to the point where it could no longer function. The sight when all was done was quite comedic. Eight heads were sticking out of six feet of snow in the middle of a living room fully decorated for Christmas.

     "I'm going to go chop down another tree," Tenchi said.

     "But why, Tenchi?" Kiyone asked. "I doubt the tree was destroyed this time."

     "Yeah, but if it was, I want to have another one ready, so I won't have to cut one down later. Who knows how long it's going to take to get all of this snow out of here, and we have to have a tree for Christmas." So with great effort, Tenchi dug himself out of the snow and crawled across the top of it to the edge of the room, where he slid down over the side and through the door, leaving everyone else to fend for themselves.

     "This is getting to be a lot more trouble than it's worth!" Tenchi complained to himself as he trudged over to the patch of trees with his axe and started chopping one. Before long, he heard a distinctive noise a little ways off.

     "HO HO HO!" Tenchi rolled his eyes and groaned loudly. He turned around and began chopping the tree behind him. A few seconds later, the tree he'd just been working on burst into flames.

*          *            *

     "At last!" Tenchi said as he flopped down in an easy chair on Christmas Eve. It'd taken a few days to remove all the snow from the living room, and a few more to fix the damage said snow had done. That left them with very little time to do all of the last minute preparations they should've been doing all along.

     Presently, Aeka was sitting across the room by the fire, reading, and Sasami was in the kitchen trying to teach Ryoko how to make Christmas cookies. It wasn't going very well. Half an hour ago, Tenchi had been forced to disconnect the smoke alarm.

     Noboyuki had gone to bed early, and Mihoshi and Kiyone would be coming over in the morning, as they had to work all through Christmas Eve. That left Washu, who was at the moment sitting in a chair in the dining room by herself. After a few minutes of rest, Tenchi decided he should go talk to her.

     When he entered the dining room, he found her sitting at the table, resting her head on her arms and staring straight ahead. She looked rather upset. He pulled up a chair next to her.

     "Is anything wrong, Little Washu?" he asked.

     "Huh? Oh, no, Tenchi." She didn't sound at all like her usual jovial self. She barely even looked up at him when she answered.

     "I don't believe that for a minute," he said. "Now come on, tell me what's wrong."

     "Oh, all right," she replied reluctantly. She lifted her head from her arms and turned in her chair to face him.

     "I just feel really bad about all the things that have happened this Christmas," she said. "I totally messed up everyone's holiday."

     "That's not true," Tenchi told her. "I mean sure, there've been some instances, but we're all still having fun. And we made it to Christmas in one piece."

     "I just tried so hard to get into the spirit this year, Tenchi," she said sadly. "And it seems no matter what I try, it backfires. Maybe I shouldn't bother with it anymore."

     "Don't say that, Little Washu!" Tenchi said as he put his hand on her shoulder. "I think it's great that you've been trying to get so involved with Christmas! It shows that you care! And who cares about a few mishaps, anyway? You're not the only one to have made a mistake, anyway. Ryoko's burned out the batteries in our smoke detectors three times, and Mihoshi's broken over two year's worth of dishes. Besides, Christmas wouldn't be the same if you weren't here to share it with us. You're as much a part of this family as anyone else." Washu looked at him with a growing smile on her face. 

     "You mean it, Tenchi?" He nodded.

     "I do. Now let's go see if we can salvage some of those cookies, okay?" Washu's trademark grin returned.

     "Sure! And you just wait until next year, Tenchi! I'll have the best set of Christmas decorations you've ever seen!"

     Tenchi sweatdropped.

*          *            *

     "We're hee-re!" Mihoshi announced cheerfully as she came through the door on Christmas morning.

     "We brought some stuff for the feast!" Kiyone said from behind her and held up a big bag, presumably full of food.

     "I'll take it!" Sasami said as she ran over to the GP and took the bag. She headed into the kitchen with it.

     "So everyone's here, huh?" Noboyuki asked. "Does that mean we can open presents now?"

     "Just a minute," Washu interrupted the conversation. "Before we commence, I would like to announce that I have one more invention to reveal!" Everyone looked a bit nervous.

     "Not to worry!" Washu said. "This device only has _one_ button," she pulled a remote with a single button from her pocket, "so it's impossible for anyone to mess it up." She glared at Mihoshi, who had an innocent look on her face, while everyone else heaved a sigh of relief. The diminutive scientist continued.

     "Presenting…the Tenchi-seeking mistletoe!" She pressed the button, and Tenchi facefaulted. A little sprig of mistletoe zipped through the air into the room and halted over Tenchi's head, where it hovered in place. Aeka and Ryoko had wide grins on their faces.

     "Don't bother to try and run away, Tenchi," Washu told him. "This baby'll follow you wherever you go!"

     "I was afraid of that," moaned the poor, unfortunate Tenchi. 

     "First!" called Ryoko excitedly.

     "Now wait just a minute!" argued Aeka. "How did we decide that?"

     "Why don't you just flip for it?" suggested Kiyone. They agreed, and Ryoko won, much to Aeka's disappointment. Tenchi just sat, watching the whole thing in disbelief.

     Ryoko flew over to him, wrapped her arms around him and gave him an enormous kiss. It was all she could do to keep herself from ripping his cloths off.

     Aeka went next, and she gave him a very strong, deep kiss. Afterwards, she was blushing furiously, as was Tenchi. Ryoko fumed silently at the sight.

     Mihoshi kissed him next, and she blushed even more than Aeka had. Even Kiyone gave him a quick kiss, as she was enjoying how much this embarrassed him. 

     Washu gave him a kiss that startled him a little bit, and Sasami gave him a kiss on the cheek. After he'd been thoroughly embarrassed, the gang set to work on opening presents, which they did until Sasami announced that dinner was ready.

     "Boy, am I hungry!" Ryoko exclaimed as she sat down at the table.

     "So am I," agreed Kiyone. "Let's dig in!" They all nodded, and began eating.

     "So what are you gonna do with that extra Christmas tree you cut, Tenchi?" Noboyuki asked. Tenchi groaned.

     "Please don't mention that," he said. "I don't ever want to chop down another Christmas tree for as long as I live."

     "We can keep it in the lab until next year, Tenchi," Washu offered. "That way, I can keep it alive, and you won't have to cut one down next year. I can even make some special modifications to it if you—"

     "NO!" Tenchi interrupted, perhaps a bit to loud. "Er, no," he said again. "That's okay, Washu. We can keep it there, but you don't need to make any modifications to it."

     "Oh, okay Tenchi," she complied. A collective sigh was heard.

     They continued eating their meal, with occasional small talk. Tenchi would periodically glance nervously at the sprig of mistletoe still hovering above his head, and at Ryoko and Aeka, who were sitting a little bit closer to him than usual. Outside in the distance, the occasional faint "ho ho ho" could be heard, and snow was just beginning to fall. It was another merry Christmas at the Masaki residence.

THE END

There! I'm finished! Please send all C&C to illjwamh@yahoo.com


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